Afghanistan Ladies´s XI participant prepares to take to the sector in the course of the cricket match between Afghanistan Ladies´s XI and Cricket With out Borders XI at Junction Oval in Melbourne on January 30, 2025. — AFP
LONDON: Afghanistan’s exiled ladies cricketers would be the first beneficiaries of a brand new refugee fund began by the Marylebone Cricket Membership (MCC), the membership stated on Friday.
Tons of of athletes fled Afghanistan after the Taliban reclaimed energy in 2021 and effected sweeping restrictions on ladies within the nation.
Of the 25 Afghan ladies contracted by the nation’s cricket board in 2020, most have settled in Australia and performed their first match on Thursday.
The MCC’s international refugee cricket fund, which goals to initially increase a million kilos ($1.24 million), is meant for displaced communities such because the Afghan gamers.
“Cricket has the power to inspire, unite, and empower, and through this initiative, we aim to bring hope and opportunity to those who need it most,” MCC secretary Rob Lynch stated in an announcement.
Whereas Afghanistan has a longtime males’s crew and enjoys funding from the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC), the ladies are unfunded and unsanctioned by the worldwide physique regardless of pleas for assist from the gamers.
The Taliban say they respect ladies’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of spiritual legislation and native customs and that they’re inner issues that must be addressed regionally.
The early focus of the refugee fund can be to lift cash to offer protected coaching services, instructional alternatives, and progress pathways, the MCC, which is chargeable for the legal guidelines of cricket, stated in an announcement.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has additionally lent a serving to hand.
“The cricket community must take action, to support the brave Afghan women, and to give hope that cricket can be a sport for any woman or girl,” ECB deputy chief government Clare Connor stated.
“We hope the launch of the fund will inspire other cricketing organisations to support this cause, and to unlock cricket’s power to unite communities around the globe.”
